The first application of electric lighting was the arc lamps of Humphry Davy in 1813. The system was not particularly widespread and the first real useful application of electricity in the lighting field began only with the incandescent lamps, such as that proposed by Wilson Swan in 1878 and Thomas Edison in 1879. The latter, in particular, after having perfected and patented the invention of the first, is remembered as the inventor of the first system of electric lighting effective, consistent and reliable. Since then, the electric lighting had a huge spread thanks to progress of technologies in the field of electricity.